The fabrication of thin veneers for labial placement on discolored anterior teeth has been practiced by dental laboratories for a number of years. In general, the application of veneers has required a thin sheet of a ceramic material or of an organic resin (.about.0.5-0.75 mm in thickness) to be cast, the sheet shaded to be compatible in color with adjacent teeth, and then cemented to the patient's tooth. As can be appreciated, considerable research has been conducted in devising cements to insure high shear bonding between the tooth and the veneer element.
In a rather recent development, dental laboratories have fabricated dental appliances or prostheses (inlays, onlays, crowns, bridges, veneers, etc.) from glass-ceramic materials. Various compositions have been employed, the most common having a calcium phosphate or a fluormica as the predominant crystal phase. Thus, glass-ceramic materials have been designed demonstrating high mechanical strength, a coefficient of thermal expansion and a thermal conductivity approximating those of tooth enamel, a level of translucency such as to impart a visual appearance similar to that of tooth enamel, excellent resistance to food staining and chemical attack in an oral environment, and a ready capability of being shaded to a desired coloration.
It has been recognized that a stronger bond can be obtained between a cement and the substrate to which the cement is applied by increasing the surface area of the substrate in the region where the cement is to be applied. Such increase in surface area can be secured by roughening the substrate surface through such means as sandblasting. A more carefully controllable process contemplates differential etching. To be effective, as can be appreciated, differential etching requires the presence of at least two different phases in the body which react at markedly unequal rates when subjected to the etchant.
As is recognized in the art, a glass-ceramic body consists of crystals dispersed within a residual glassy matrix, the crystals customarily comprising the greater proportion of the body and having a composition substantially different from that of the residual glass. Because of this significant difference in composition existing in the crystal phase vis-a-vis the glass phase, an etchant which would remove the glass phase much more rapidly than the crystals would yield holes in the surface which would extend inwardly into the body. Such holes would not only substantially increase the surface area, but also the tortuous path which the etchant would produce in removing the glass phase around the crystals would provide improved bonding for cement applied thereto through a form of mechanical interlocking. The reverse process, i.e., the etching of the crystals with the glass phase being left in place, is also, of course, possible. However, insasmuch as the crystals normally constitute the greater phase in glass-ceramics, their removal may leave a weakened body.
Because the interior fitting surface of a dental appliance could require etching prior to being cemented to the surface of a patient's tooth, some constraints are necessarily placed upon the etching process. For example, inasmuch as the etching procedure would be conducted on the finished appliance, e.g., a shaded veneer, the finished surface must be protected during the etching. The temperature of the etching treatment should not exceed about 150.degree. F. (.about.65.degree. C.). A stronger bond between the etched appliance and the cement than between the etched tooth enamel and the cement will desirably be provided. In general, the bond strength of organic polymers to etched tooth enamel is on the order of 1200 psi.
Therefore, the primary objective of the present invention was to devise a method for developing a bond between dental cements (organic polymer adhesives) and etched appliances prepared from glass-ceramic compositions exhibiting bond strengths in excess of 1200 psi.
Another important objective of the present invention was to devise an etching procedure which would be conducted on finished, shaded glass-ceramic dental appliances that could be carried out at temperatures not exceeding about 150.degree. F., and wherein the finished surface of the construct would be protected during the etching process.